Boudoir Anonynous

Hi, my name is Alan, it's been eleven months since my last Boudoir shoot. Hard to believe my last shoot was with Halston, back in October of 2010.  I got bored, my work seemed repetitive and rife with complacency.  After joining a Facebook group last month, I decided I would return to my Tattooed White Sheets sessions.  I posted a "casting call" and received several comments from interested models. One model, Alexandria, and I have been trying to sync our schedules and shoot, but just couldn't.  She posted that she was getting her tattoo filled and so we decided we would shoot the following day.

My usual model request for the Tattooed White Sheets session "look" is smokey eye make-up, red lipstick and hair down, if it's long. It's funny when the models ask what should they wear.  "Uh, sweats and nothing else."  Why the strange request? because if they wear anything tight prior to shooting, we'll have to wait at least 20 minutes to have the strap lines disappear. Alex brought an array of clothes, but we really didn't need that many, it's a Boudoir shoot, right?

 My concept for this shoot was to have her start out dressed and then work our way to the White Sheets part, basically a strip-tease. To pull this off, I would "attempt" to create a bedroom setting and simulate window light.  Well that was my vision.

Figured I could at least use three lights, one for the window, one for fill and the other as a kicker, or rim light. Here are the lights and modifiers used: 

• Window: Alien Bee 1600 bounced in an 86" PLM with Front Diffusion panel, metered at f/5.6
• Rim: Einstein 640 with PCB Stripbox, gridded and diffused at f/4.0
• Fill: Alien Bee Ring Flash bounced off garage wall behind me at f/2.0

The lighting looked good, but I shot at f/4.0 instead of f/5.6 because I wanted the window light to be bright, however; what I didn't do was check my light meter.  I had left it at ISO 100 and was shooting at ISO 200.  I caught it later on in the shoot, but these images were all overexposed, no clipping aside from the white scrim.  However, I still wasn't liking the results. c It just didn't look like a room.  I also placed my black backdrop perpendicular to the white scrim to keep the light from spilling onto the garage walls and refrigerator.

We shot with that set for about 90 minutes and then went to the White Sheets portion.  The White Sheet set-up is the same one I've used in previous shoots.  Alexandria went to change and while she was getting ready, I opened my dryer to make the bed.  I opened the dryer and it was empty, I asked my girlfriend where she put the sheets.  Surprised, she said, "I didn't do anything with them."  ARGHHH!!!  I forgot to move them from the Washer to the Dryer.  Yup, they were wet.  Change of plans, Burgundy sheets instead.  Oh well, they did add a nice texture to the shoot and provided a different mood for the shoot.

What Did I Learn?

• Check you Light Meter settings - Fortunately the images weren't too overexposed.  I almost always check my camera setting before each shoot, especially White Balance and ISO.
• Change the scrim - What I mean is that I had flattened out the white scrim instead of gathering it and creating some vertical lines and denser areas of light.  
• Extended the Burgundy drapes to form an "L" shape  which should give a little more depth to the set.
• Use similar lights - By using the AB1600, Einstein 640 and AB 800 Ring Flash the color temperature from each light is different and it gives off a noticeable color cast.

I'm not giving up on my Boudoir shoots, just need to do a few more "test" shoots before enlisting a model.  Thank goodness Alexandria was patient.

One last comment, always use a Grey Card to make sure you achieve the proper exposure  :)